Chapter Seventy-Six: You Shut Up First!

Chapter Seventy-Six: You Shut Up First!

According to Zhang Gaoyuan’s lesson plan, he intended for everyone to make their own guesses. Once every student in the class had shared what they thought they smelled, he would then burst out laughing and declare, “You’re all wrong! In fact, this is just a bottle of ordinary tap water I filled in the restroom. The reason you guessed incorrectly is because my psychological suggestion led you into a thinking trap. Yes, psychology is just that magical, just that interesting, and it influences our lives every moment. Now, everyone, open your textbooks and let’s step into the fascinating world of psychology—”

If you stretched out this content, it would cover the entire forty minutes of his first class—without a single bit of filler.

But those two infuriating students refused to play along. They didn’t fall for it; they even revealed the truth, leaving him, the teacher, at a loss for how to proceed.

Was this not bullying the teacher?

After hearing Zhang Gaoyuan’s explanation, the students immediately realized that they had all been deceived, and that Tang Zhong and Jiao Nanxin had been correct.

“The class monitor is amazing! He didn’t fall for it—Monitor, how did you figure it out?” The boys admired Tang Zhong’s sharp mind even more.

“Go, Nanxin! Nanxin, you’re our pride!” The girls, naturally, rallied behind Jiao Nanxin, their female representative. If only Tang Zhong had seen through the trick and all the girls had failed, it would have been an embarrassment for them all. Jiao Nanxin had won honor for them.

“Wow, I really thought it was the smell of stinky feet.” Hua Ming sniffed up and down and said, “Could it be my shoes that stink?”

Zhang Gaoyuan tapped the lectern with the chalkboard eraser and said, “Very good. These two students are both correct. Subtle suggestions can unconsciously strip us of our judgment and influence our thinking. In psychology, this phenomenon—where language, actions, expressions, or certain special symbols influence another’s psyche and behavior, leading them to accept the suggester’s viewpoint or act as suggested—is called the ‘suggestion effect.’”

He looked at Tang Zhong and asked, “What’s your name?”

“Tang Zhong.”

“He’s our class monitor.”

“Dean Jiao’s student.”

Before Tang Zhong could reply, his classmates had already introduced him in detail.

“Oh, so you’re one of Dean Jiao’s new students this year?” Zhang Gaoyuan laughed. “No wonder you’re so impressive.”

“You flatter me, sir,” Tang Zhong replied modestly.

“Hmm. Tang Zhong, could you tell us how you knew the bottle contained pure water?”

“By process of elimination,” Tang Zhong answered. “When I heard your introduction, my initial reaction was the same as everyone else’s: to sniff the air for a scent. But I found there was no new smell at all—”

“Wait a moment,” Zhang Gaoyuan interrupted. “There are so many smells in the air. Can you distinguish them all?”

“Yes.” Tang Zhong nodded with a smile. The classroom was so clean—how many odors could there be? If only they had to live in a prison for a while, then they’d know what complex smells were.

“How is that possible? How do you manage it?” Zhang Gaoyuan was clearly even more interested in this question.

“Because… I’ve smelled too many things.” Tang Zhong smiled.

“Smelled too many things?” Zhang Gaoyuan nodded, evidently misunderstanding Tang Zhong’s meaning. “Indeed, we all breathe air every day, but few take the time to really notice it. No wonder you became Dean Jiao’s student. Your sensitivity in observation is extraordinary—something most people, myself included, could never match. Alright, I digress. Please, go on.”

“I thought, even if the scent of air freshener is faint, it can’t be completely absent. Otherwise, your having us sniff it would have no point. But I truly didn’t smell anything, so I became suspicious. Then I remembered: this is a psychology class, not a physics or chemistry lesson. What would be the purpose of making us sniff something here?”

Zhang Gaoyuan fell silent again.

This kid was simply uncanny.

After asking his question, he’d immediately pressured the students to answer, leaving them with no time to think. Their first reaction would be to search for a smell, not to wonder, “This is psychology, not physics or chemistry—what’s the point?” In other words, the boy had a fiercely independent mind, immune to outside influence.

He then turned to Jiao Nanxin, asking, “And you, young lady—how did you know the answer?”

“Because I’ve read a lot of psychology books. I knew the teacher wanted to use the effect of psychological suggestion as an introduction to draw our attention.” Jiao Nanxin smiled. “Given that, he definitely wouldn’t offer us a straightforward answer. So, I guessed that the bottle just contained pure water.”

“Well then,” Zhang Gaoyuan said helplessly, “I originally wanted to use this incident to demonstrate the wonders of psychology in our daily lives. But with these two students’ performance, I think there’s no need for further explanation—you’ve all seen a perfect example.”

“That was supposed to be the content for my first class,” he said, glancing at the clock. “It’s only been ten minutes. For the remaining thirty, let’s examine a classic psychology case.”

He walked to the computer console and turned on the classroom projector.

After searching through some files, he opened a video.

On the projection screen appeared a restaurant. Four men walked in and found a table.

The first, a portly man, said to the waiter, “I’ll have stir-fried rice noodles with beef.”

“I’ll have beef noodle soup,” said the second.

“I’ll have beef noodle soup too,” said the third.

“You’re all having beef noodle soup? I’ll have beef noodle soup as well,” said the fourth.

Then the waiter turned to the first man and asked, “Sir, do you want stir-fried rice noodles or beef noodle soup?”

The portly man hesitated. The scene froze.

Zhang Gaoyuan returned to the lectern and said, “As I mentioned, psychology is the study and analysis of a person’s sensations, perceptions, memory, thinking, and emotions. Now that you’ve seen this clip, who can tell me: what will the first man ultimately order? Will he give up his original choice and switch to beef noodle soup like his companions?”

“Yes, he will. Seeing all his friends order beef noodle soup, he’ll change his mind.”

“No, he won’t. Since he was the first to order stir-fried noodles, it shows he prefers that—why should he change his taste because of others?”

“He will. I think he hesitated. Hesitation means he’s considering changing—”

Everyone began offering their opinions, and the classroom buzzed with lively debate.

“Tang Zhong, what do you think?” Zhang Gaoyuan took the initiative to ask.

“I think he’ll change his order,” Tang Zhong replied with a smile. “He walked with unsteady steps and looked around the restaurant upon entering, indicating that he’s a person of weak will. When his three friends all chose something else, it made him question his own choice, so he began to hesitate—for someone with a weak will, hesitation often leads to giving up.”

“And you, young lady, what’s your view?” Zhang Gaoyuan turned to Jiao Nanxin, whose earlier answers had astounded him.

“I think he won’t change,” Jiao Nanxin replied firmly. She was seated in front of Tang Zhong and didn’t turn to look at his reaction. “Some say his steps were unsteady because his will is weak. I think it’s just because he’s too fat to walk steadily. As for looking around, maybe he was just hoping to spot a pretty woman—don’t all men have that weakness?”

A round of applause broke out among the students for Jiao Nanxin’s argument.

Tang Zhong could only smile wryly.

He realized this woman was determined to cross swords with him again.

What did she mean by “some say” and “others say”—it was all him! There was only one Tang Zhong in this world, and he didn’t have a split personality.

Zhang Gaoyuan also laughed. “Go on.”

“He’s a fat man, and a roving-eyed one at that. His size proves he loves to eat—he’s a foodie. Foodies are devoted to their preferences, so he won’t abandon them because of others’ opinions. And those who are roving-eyed like to stand out from the crowd to attract girls’ attention—so I think he won’t change his order.”

“If he won’t change, why did he hesitate at the last moment?” Tang Zhong smiled. “His gaze wandered, his fingers fidgeted in pain—clearly, the beef noodle soup tempted him greatly.”

“If he really wanted beef noodle soup, he would have ordered it first. Since he didn’t, that shows it’s not his top choice. If someone’s a true foodie, why would he change just because of others’ opinions?”

“Maybe he doubted his own decision. People often follow the crowd. When you go to a restaurant wanting tomato and scrambled eggs, but see everyone else ordering sizzling beef, don’t you feel tempted to try it too?”

“If you’ve craved tomato and eggs for three months, would you give it up so easily? If you saved for ten years to buy an Audi, and someone told you BMWs were nice, would you switch right away?”

“I would,” said Tang Zhong. “If I knew nothing about cars and could afford either.”

“I wouldn’t. I worked for that Audi. It’s more than just a means of transportation to me—it stands for something much more important, I—”

“Excuse me, both of you—” Zhang Gaoyuan tried to interrupt their debate. It was getting more heated, and the topic had drifted from noodles to luxury cars, which left him rather exasperated.

But Jiao Nanxin, in the heat of argument, refused to yield. Waving her hand, she declared, “You shut up first!”